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'He's had this for 23 years and nothing they do will alleviate the pain and he's had enough. He's just tired of living like this.'

Mrs Nicklinson said there was a 'huge amount of support' for a move to change the law, adding: 'In my mind, the severely disabled are being blatantly discriminated against. Why shouldn't they have the same rights as everyone else?

'There would obviously be huge safeguards put in place so that people are protected. I know for a fact that there are many, many severely disabled people or people that have degenerative illnesses that know that one day, they will be severely disabled, that want a change in the law.'

Mr Nicklinson was a keen sportsman until he was paralysed by a stroke while on a business trip to Athens in 2005.

He was left crestfallen by a High Court decision ruling against his wish to end his life last year, and died a few days later after he began refusing food.

Mrs Nicklinson later vowed to continue the legal battle because it was 'part of Tony's legacy'.

Mr Lamb said if he won a change in the 'cruel' law to secure protection from prosecution for a doctor who helped him take his life, he would die a 'very proud man'.

In an interview broadcast on BBC Radio 4's Today programme he said: 'The quality of life is not there and I just think I have done everything I can, I've tried everything.'

He said he was in 'horrendous' pain, adding: 'My will has gone. I think I'm worn down, worn out. I'm not getting any younger and I just badly want to see this law changed.'

Mr Lamb said he wanted to be able to die 'with all my loved ones around me that I care about, in my bed, to have the ability to feel comfortable'.

Disability charity Scope today strongly opposed any changes to the law and said Mr Lamb's views are not shared by many disabled people.

Scope's chief executive, Richard Hawkes, said: 'It is important that the views of Paul Lamb, who has taken up the legal challenge begun by the late Tony Nicklinson, are set in context.

'Although many people will sympathise with these cases, we must remember that the current law on assisted suicide protects the lives of disabled people in Britain.

'Many disabled people tell us that without this legal protection, they would live under the assumption that they are a burden on society more widely and their loved ones.

'We must avoid any temptation to change assisted suicide laws based on a couple of undeniably heart-wrenching and tragic cases. Many disabled people are against any weakening of the law, and their voices need to be heard in this debate.'

Nikki Kenward, a disabled former victim of locked-in syndrome who runs the Distant Voices group, said: ‘Just when we thought we might have a place in society, along comes another “my life isn’t worth living” campaign.

‘I’m insulted, alienated and tired of the sense of being on a list of people who qualify for assisted death.’